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The public owes a great deal to the gallant CHP Officers that keep the highways and byways of Sonoma County safe for motorists. But when disturbing scandals like nude photo's shared between fellow officers that are stolen from arrest subject's cell phones or that of the high ranking CHP official who developed a tendency towards abuse of power come to light, questions must be asked regarding the wisdom of giving police chiefs and the like too much of it.

Some communities even allow police chiefs to double as coroners. Agatha Christie would have had a field day with a coroner/police chief gone bad. Unfortunately for the community, their remains a significant risk that someday one of those sheriff/coroners will go bad and do a lot of damage to the public interest.

With Captain Tracey now enjoying a protracted leave of absence at the taxpayer's expense, it is probable that the former leader of the Sonoma CHP will opt for retirement and the security of a fat Cadillac pension plan.

While the harried rank and file of the Sonoma California Highway Patrol can only hope that Tracey's replacement, Captain Chris Childs, is able to provide more stable leadership. Which will prove difficult. As Captain Childs' workload as head of the Napa CHP will remain.

Now faced with the additional burden of Tracey's duties, Childs must be hard pressed to stay on top of it all.